Scraps
by pyrat-xo
Summary: Desperation is one helluva feeling, ain't it?


**Scraps**

_Feelin' super, punk?_

XO

You remember your father, sort of. He was this big guy; hairy and kind'a smelly and you remember sitting on the rail and watching him throw stuff overboard when he got really fuckin' pissed. You remember your mother; she was small and quiet but lean like a hungry sea king with eyes that told you

_you're worthless. I hate you. I wish you would die_

every time you messed around in the kitchen or argued back.

So mostly you just kept the hell out'a their way and hung out in the storage shed or something, taking apart cannons (and putting most of 'em back together) or messing with the guns. You read the ship's blueprints until you knew them by heart and you could build rough cannons with barrels, glue and gunpowder. When you put a hole in the hull, though, and they had to stop at an island to get it fixed, you heard 'em talking and wasn't too surprised when they tossed you overboard still within sight of land, but with a good enough tailwind that you couldn't catch up, no matter how good a swimmer you were.

And you swam back to land and ended up in a junkyard and built a cannon and shot whatever you could find out of it as far as you could, hoping it would hit the ship and put another hole in its hull and maybe sink it this time.

Until this BIGASS fishman who laughed too much tapped you on the shoulder and more or less asked what the hell you were doin'. So you told him and then asked him to take you in and all he did was laugh and laugh and laugh until you thought he was laughing at you (which, y'know, he probably was) but all he did was turn around and wave a hand at his house and you joined a family. A squabbling, laughing-at-you-not-with-you, build-stuff-doesn't-matter-what-or-don't-eat family, but.

At that point, you were feelin' pretty fuckin' super.

You learned stuff, too. Picking up supplies in town, you'd hear the whispers and you'd listen and you'd learn stuff that couldn't be true

_Tom-san is a_

_criminal and he's too_

_dangerous so he was_

_exiled? well, just about, he's just in the_

_back alley? with the other criminals, well then it_

_serves him right_

and then you learned that they were true but it didn't matter to you, because you thought pirates were great and Tom-san was even greater for building the awesome ship the Pirate King sailed in. You thought it was the coolest thing ever and right then and there you decided to make more Battle Frankies that were bigger and even more powerful and could sail the Grand Line or even past Aqua Laguna.

Only Assburg kept gettin' in your way and you two argued like hell. But you figured you guys were family (no matter how many times he threatened to throw you out) and families did that.

Well, lots of stuff happened after that, but the things you remember best were taking down a sea king and helping to build the sea train.

And that was awesome.

Plain awesome

More awesome than anything you've ever done so far and probably would do again.

No, it doesn't make you sad.

Well, not _that_ sad.

Not like it's gonna keep you up at night that you'll never do anything so epic ever again, 'cause once is enough, really.

But, you think, if you could take down the government, you would. Immediately, even if you die, so no one would have to go through what you and Iceburg and Kokoro-san and Yokozuna did, and back then you thought that if you could even get rid of one official, the world would be a lot better off.

Desperation is one helluva feeling, ain't it?

That, and guilt, determination... _hate_. You've never wanted to punch anyone in the face as much as you did that Spanda bastard.

It felt like betrayal, that they were using the Puffing Tom to take Tom-san away and there was nothing you could do, even though you tried. You tried your best and would've tried harder and succeeded if you'd only had the strength, only you didn't back then but maybe you do now. Just, by the time you'd gotten yourself onto the ship and rebuilt your body, you knew it was too late and Tom-san was dead.

But you're not dumb enough to rush Enies Lobby, no matter what Assburg said about your IQ.

You'd make hell for the government, and wreak havoc with the Marine ships you met that pissed you off and all the while you thought about your Battle Frankies (and knew that you missed them and wouldn't have had the heart to scrap 'em no matter what happened; at least now they can't hurt anyone else) and how great it would be to be able to use 'em right about now.

You thought about Water 7 and you bounced from town to town, doin' stuff no one in their right mind would do. You just didn't have the time to be depressed, y'know? Too busy trying to get back to tell the city HEY! Guess what? Cutty Flam AIN'T DEAD and too busy trying to stay alive to have any time to sulk.

Now you're back and this city's changed; it's been sinking since you left, you realize, and it isn't going to stop, but you see cheerful, smiling faces and remember the whistle of the Puffing Tom and you think that it's good to be home.

XO

**AN: **Franky, in case you were wondering. Don't get me wrong, I love Franky. I _adore_ Franky, but... I want Paulie to join! Anyway! Way open to con/crit, this is in... second person? I dunno, but it's not an interactive thing. Seems like the only things I can concentrate on writing for any length of time are retellings. ; Ah, well.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering about Assburg, it's as close to '_Ahoburg_' and '_Iceburg_' I can get simultaneously. Works pretty well, yeah?


End file.
